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Ouyang Xiu's Autobiography in Perspective of Chinese And IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 22, Issue 4, Ver. 7 (April 2017) PP 01-07 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org Ouyang Xiu’s Autobiography in Perspective of Chinese and Western Narratologies WANG Ying Female,Associate Professor,Research Fellow, FRASInstitute of Literature,Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,No.5 Jianguomennei Dajie, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100732,China. Abstract: Liuyi Jushi Zhuan(The Biography of Hermit Six Ones),the autobiography of Ouyang Xiu, is a distinguished biography with superb narrative techniques. Analyzed in perspective of Chinese and Western narratologies, The Biography of Hermit Six Ones shows structural skills of "metanarrative signs" and superb narrative experience of imagery applications, introspection and satire in narrative perspective-apologias and interior monologues. In terms of the theory of Roland Barthes, its rich and complex meaning world can clearly summarize the relation between the author and the literary representation of his self-image. Key Words: Ouyang Xiu; Liu Yi Jushi Zhuan; Six ones; Chinese & Western Narratology As a "literary master" of the Northern Song Dynasty (960AD-1127AD) China, Ouyang Xiu stood out in many cultural fields. Li Chunqing has made incisive comments on the profound reasons why Ouyang Xiu was the scholar representative of his era, "The reason why Ouyang Xiu was the spiritual model of contemporary scholars is that he advocated and upheld personal ideals when scholarly subject consciousness was seriously lost after the late Tang Dynasty (618AD-907AD), the Five Dynasties (907AD-960AD) and the early Song Dynasty (960AD-1279AD). In addition to his talent and genius, he became a literary leader because his numerous academic expressions, literature theory and works coincided with and represented common spirit states and value expectations of the scholarly class then, and his literary expressions (theories) could be regarded as characterizations of scholarly personality ideals."1"The scholar class also had intense desire for purely individual spirit worlds. They wished they could often stay in interior worlds that are absolutely pure and away from the vulgar world so that they could enjoy blissful periods with mental freedom. In this regard, Ouyang Xiu was also a representative of scholars."2 The Biography of Hermit Six Ones is a perfect representation of his era-leading elegant taste and spiritual world. The life tastes that Ouyang Xiu narrated in his biography - reading, inscription appreciation, zither playing, chess playing and wine drinking - were popular hobbies of the scholar class in his time. Having collected one thousand volumes of rubbings, he was a famous epigraphist, the pioneer and founder of Chinese epigraphy. Hermit Six Ones was relegated to the village of Chuzhou, he gave himself an alias:OldDrunkard.He is old,weak and ill.Now he is going to farewell officialdom,then goes to the side of Ying River, and plans to live out his life and die in peace.Therefore he changed his alias to Hermit Six Ones. A guest asked, “What do Six Ones refer to?” The hermit replied: “I have collected 10,000 volumes of books, 1000 volumes of rubbings of ancient metal and stone tablets from the Xia(around 21th century BC- 16th century BC),Shang(around 1675BC-1029BC) and Zhou(the middle period of 11 century BC-256 BC) Dynasties; I have a musical instrument, a plate of chess pieces, and I often get ready a pot of wine.” The guest said, “Those only make five ones, but why do you call yourself ‘Six Ones’?” The hermit answered, “Plus me, one old man living among these five ones, will that not make ‘Six Ones’?” The guest laughed saying, “You must be someone that wants to evade the reputation(keep a low profile), that’s why you changed your names so often? Just like the man mocked by Chuang Tse would often run into the sunshine for fearing his shadow, I will see you behave like that man, running fast, gasping deeply, and dying out of thirst, and yet still unable to escape from fame.” The hermit explained: “I know I cannot escape from fame and I also know I do not need to; I give myself this name just used to indicate my pleasure.” The guest asked, ”What is your pleasure like?” The hermit answered, “How can I speak enough of my pleasure! When I 1Li Chunqing: Songxue Yu SongdaiWenxueGuannian (Learning and literature concept of the Song Dynasty)[M]. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Publishing Group,2001. pp.138-39. 2Ibid. pp.142. DOI: 10.9790/0837-2204070107 www.iosrjournals.org 1 | Page Ouyang Xiu’s Autobiography in Perspective of Chinese and Western Narratologies am intoxicated while playing among these five ones, I cannot see Mount Tai even if it is just before me, and I am not surprised even if the thunder splits the pillar; even if the ancient music Jiushao [Name of a piece of music during Shun Times(2255BC-2208BC) ]was played on Dongting Lakeand I could watch big battles in the field of Zhuolu, all of these can hardly depict my pleasure and comfort. Nevertheless, I often worry that I cannot indulge myself among these five ones and the reason is that I have been tied up by affairs of my life. Among them, there are two big affairs. The first is that the official vehicle, robe, passport and seal make me feel tired from outside; and the second is that worries and anxieties make me feel tired inside. These make me look ill when I am not sick and spiritually exhausted when I am not old; how can I find leisure to play among these five ones? Even though this is the case, I have pled to the imperial court for retirement for three years, if one day the emperor took pity on me and my old bones, letting me return to pastoral with my five ones; then I can hopefully realize my long-cherished dream. This is the reason for indicating my pleasure.” The guest laughed saying: “You only know the official vehicle, robe, passport and seal may wear you out, but don’t you know that these five ones may also make your heart feel tired?” The hermit said: “These are not the same. I am worn out by the official affairs because I am already tired and I have many worries; but when attracted by these five things, I feel comfortable and I rejoice that there is no disaster. What choice shall I make?” So saying, the hermit stood up with the guest, shook his hands and laughed: “Let us stop arguing. Such trifles are not worth our concern .” Later, the hermit sighed: “A scholar began his official career when he was young. Till he becomes old and retires, he normally can hardly wait for his retiring age of 70. I usually admire such people, so this is the first reason I want to retire. I have been working for the court, but till now I have not made any achievement worthy of praise. This is the second reason I want to retire. When young and strong, my career was just so so, now I am old and ill, with a weak body I can hardly support to pursue the undeserved official position and the salary; this goes against my normal will, just like eating my own words. This is the third reason that I should retire. I have these three reasons to retire, even if there are no five ones to attract me, leaving office is sensible. What else should I say!” Sep. 7th, the third year of Xining(reign title of Emperor Song Shenzong, the third year of Xining is 1070),Hermit Six Ones wrote autobiography by himself. In his autobiography, Ouyang Xiu explained the meaning of his pseudonym, “I have collected 10,000 volumes of books, 1,000 volumes of rubbings of ancient metal and stone tablets from the Xia(around 21th century BC- 16th century BC), Shang(around 1675BC-1029BC) and Zhou(the middle period of 11 century BC-256 BC) Dynasties; I have a musical instrument, a plate of chess pieces, and I often get ready a pot of wine.……Plus me, one old man living among these five ones, will that not make ‘Six Ones’?”1In the concept of "Six Ones", "I" was also a part. The equality and apposition of "physical taste" and "I" indicated that the author treated and united them equally, showing his serene mentality to enjoy nature, freedom, agedness and tranquility. However, the author also exposed his sadness and helplessness at the end of the biography.The whole article is penetrated with questions and answers, and concluded with the words "biography of Hermit Six Ones" to explicitly demonstrate his seclusive aspiration. In perspective of Chinese and Western narratologies, as a narrative prose, The Biography of Hermit Six Ones surpassed previous works in many innovations that were not limited in the biographic field. It is also a classic prose in the Tang and the Song dynasties, revealing the eminent conceptions of Ouyang Xiu in narrative implications and techniques that deserve profound exploration in way of Chinese and Western narratologies. I. STRUCTURAL TECHNIQUES OF “METANARRATIVE SIGNS” FUNCTIONS AND IMAGERY APPLICATIONS IN THE CONCEPTION OF “SIX ONES” Gerald Prince, a US narrative expert, has expounded functions of metanarrative signs in Western narratology, “The most evident metanarrative signs - though not necessarily the most numerous or the most important - are probably those which comment on linguistic code units. A text may define an esoteric expression,…A narrator may also explain the meaning od an element in his lexicon because he is using it in a rather special way”.2“Given any narrative passage, metanarrative signs can thus indicate its functioning in a series of codes.
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